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Intercontinental Audiovisual Platform

INTERCONTINENTAL AUDIOVISUAL PLATFORM

While Latin American movie producers and directors struggled for cinematographic integration, they remarked the need to extend the principles of their collective effort beyond immediate ocean borders. Both theoretically and in daily practice, film makers and workers of the cinema industry from every corner of Latin America, were advocating for a rich diversity in images in cinema theatres, exchange of experiences, and mutual recognition of cinematography from other latitudes, most specifically those from the badly named "underdeveloped" countries, re-named euphemistically "developing countries", and timidly also referred to as “The third world”.
Thanks to persistent work and a lot of imagination, numerous groups spread out throughout the continent, including the Mexican community in the North, were allowing this dream to become reality, despite the adverse social, political and economical conditions. Projects demonstrating the progress made include: the Congress of Latin American Independent Cinematographers (Montevideo, 1958), the creation of the Cuban Art and Cinematography industry Institute (1959), the following encounters among Latin american cinematographers (Viña del Mar -1967-, Mérida, Brasilia, Río de Janeiro, Quito, Caracas -1974-, Cartagena de Indias, Mexico) that converged in the creation of the Committee Latin American Cinematographers (La Habana, 1985), the Third World Cinema library  (Montevideo, 1969), the Journal of Cinema of Bahia (1972), the International Film Festival of New Latin American Cinema  (1979), the Foundation of the New Latin American Cinema (1985), the Encounter of the Pan African Cinematographers Federation and the Latin American Cinematographers Committee (La Habana, 1985), The International Cinema and Television School of San Antonio de los Baños (1987), also known as the Three Worlds School alluding to Africa, Latin America and Asia, without however excluding students coming from “developed” countries.
Between 1985 and 1993 several initiatives were developed to better connect Latin American cinematographers and their  work, above all in the South. Since 1993, moreover, projects were set-up with the purpose to promote Latin American filmography across Europe and Spanish cinema in Latin America. Moreover, with the Ibermedia Programme (1997), government institutions infused
stronger cohesion within the Iberoamerican Community.
Since 2001, this process has been slowly widening to Africa and Asia, thanks to the Film library of the Spanish Ministry of External Relations. In September of 2005, during the 32nd International day of Cinema of Bahia, the first steps were taken towards the creation of a Tricontinental Audiovisual Platform (PAT), referring to Africa, Europe and America, exploring over five centuries of shared history and thanks to the special attention of European and Spanish Cooperation towards the African continent.

Meanwhile, in October 2006, during the celebration of the 8th International Festival of Human Rights of Buenos Aires, the Network of Social Cinema and Human Rights of Latin American Cinema was created.
Following almost two years of intensifying contacts, it was suggested in April 2007 (4º Festival of African Cinema of Tarifa) organising the first network meeting during the 34th International Cinema day of  Bahia  (September 2007) to reflect upon tits potential and limitations, with promising results noted in the Declaration of Salvador da Bahia leading to an increase in participation in the 2nd International Documentaries Festival of the South  (November 2007).
In December, the General Directorate of Cultural and Scientific Relations of the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation launched a call to several institutions and festivals of the country to tackle the subject, with the positive result of inducing a Spanish initiative to assist Southern Cinematography.
While the Declaration of Salvador de Bahia continues to attract interest, various voices have highlighted the opportunity in involving the Asian continent in order to initiate an Intercontinental Audiovisual Platform (PAI) as things would go with  “globalization”.
Taking into account the conditions of the market as understood by all, the PAI proposes itself as an alternative that would allow, in an effective and permanent way, the exchange of information and to promote the production and diffusion of audiovisual work of public  interest  (artistic, cultural, philosophical, etc.) most regularly sidelined in favour of the more lucrative business of distribution and exhibition monopolised by a handful of companies.
This Platform has the vocation of grouping movie makers, producers, and professionals of Cinema in general, as well as institutions and events that share a common respect for life, Human Rights and cultural diversity and advocating for the dignity of Human beings, social justice, Childhood and Youth Rights, ethnical and social minorities, gender equality, the inalienable Right to auto-determination of populations/nations/countries, through the acceptance of differences and divergences, tolerance, dialogue, peace, nuclear power disarmement, and fair economical relationships among countries;  strive for the recovery of the historical memory of the people, and social collective memory that have been excluded from official history, and alternative modes of living, and the inhuman and antidemocratic pretense of imposing a unique line of thinking; that should adopt a humanistic perspective, should tackle issues such as migration, intercultural mixing, as well as problems such as environmental pollution or the effects of globalisation, that allow to reflect on cinema and arts in general and their role in society, and of course impulse their development.  

Madrid, February 20th 2008